Notes_Norton

Just because it isn't a contest, doesn't mean we don't take it seriously. And IMO there is no way to judge art and doesn't belong in a contest. Example: I was playing in a hired horn section. The alto sax player was a monster. He could sightread complicated charts that I would have had to woodshed. One day on break, a gal came up and gushed about my sax playing, telling me how sexy it was. After she left, I told him it was embarrassing for here to do that in front of him. He said, that he wished he could play a ballad as passionately as I do. That's when I realized, there are dozens of skills involved in being a musician: reading, phrasing, improvising, playing dynamically, tone, and so on. And what one listener thinks the best tone, phrasing, and dynamics are, another listener might disagree. So, how can you have a contest. Was Jimi Hendrix better than Terry Kath? Was Stan Getz better than Stanley Turrentine? Was John Bonham better than Bernard Purdie? I could go on and on. For gigging musicians, it's about showing up, using our strong suits to move an audience so that the club owner makes money while we are there. Or selling recordings, so the label makes a lot of money. If we do our job right, we make money, too, and then we get to go grocery shopping and pay the mortgage. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

That's where spares come in. A spare drum 'brain' would be a worthy insurance policy. It's like a spare tire for your car. Club owners remember if the band couldn't play, and they mourn the money they lost when they still had to pay all the employees. They talk to other club owners too. One of the best referrals we got from an owner, was one who said that he could hire us and forget about us, knowing we would be there, do the job, and create no problems. I've played with a 104 degree fever. In another band, the bass player checked himself out of the hospital to do the gig, and back in when it was done. When my father died, my mother checked my schedule before she decided what day to hold the funeral, because she knew I would take the gig. The club owners, bartenders, wait staff, and others depend on the band to bring home a paycheck and pay the rent or mortgage. We take our responsibility seriously. So true. When we are doing dinner and other quiet sets, especially in small rooms, what I normally play on saxophone, can be played on my wind synth at a low volume with the same passion as my horn. Bringing a spare wind MIDI controller and a spare sound module, set me back close to $3k, but in the 30+ years I've been gigging with it, it's an inconsequential amount of money. Plus, in all these years, I had a controller fail. We were playing outdoors, on a screen porch. The temperature dropped and it started raining. The controller went out of tune and was playing notes that weren't even close to what my fingers told it to do. I switched to the spare. I sent it off to get fixed, and the repairman said it was working perfectly. He surmised that something might have gotten wet, and dried off in transit. When I was a musician, on the road, only playing saxophone, I bought a used, student instrument as a spare, in case my pro horn broke. I schlepped all over the east and central USA, and never needed it. But it was reassuring to have it around. But that's just me. I know guys who aren't as careful, and never had a problem. Notes ♫

Mark Murphy is my all-time favorite jazz singer. Richie Cole is in the top 10 of my favorite alto sax players. When I was in a jazz band, Mark came and sat in. The guitarist and leader of that band taught at the University of Miami and toured with Ira Sullivan, so he had big name connections. I felt out of my league that day, like I was faking it. But it was a blast. I think this is a fine arrangement and performance of All The Things You Are — Mark Murphy and the Muse All-Stars with Richie Cole on alto. What do you think?

Man who rides in car is really driven.

You are definitely correct. But for me, it's worth the price. I make my living gigging, and I am a "The Show Must Go On" kind of guy. Having two power amps means if one goes belly-up, I finish the gig. I can cover my sax and guitar parts on the wind synth if I have to, so I bring two wind MIDI controllers and two identical sound modules. The chances of the sax or guitar plus two wind MIDI controllers and both sound modules crapping out is slim indeed. I bring two laptops to the gig. Identical data on both. If something goes wrong, move the USB to the second computer, and the show goes on. Since 2002, when I started bringing ThinkPads on stage, I've done this twice. The first time the Hard Drive was making a grinding noise, between songs I moved the USB->Audio interface to the second song. Nobody but us knew there was a problem. The second time, the CMOS battery in a computer died, and it wouldn't boot. At the time, I didn't know I could manually enter the date and boot it up. I just used the second computer. When I'm on a commercial gig, the bartenders, wait staff, manager, owner, and others are depending on us to make their living. If a private party, the host is depending on us to entertain the guests. No good businessperson lets his/her customers down. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

I get along with the guitar better than I do with piano. I can play things on the keys, but I can't do that left-hand bass+comp and right-hand melody. Probably because I haven't taken the many hours it takes to achieve that. I can sing and play bass or guitar, though, even though that also consists of doing two different things at once. But one is voice, and one with hands, not different things on each hand. I suppose most of the guitarists and pianists on this board are better than me, but my main axe is sax. Even on that, what I've learned through the years is there is always someone better than me, and always someone worse. It doesn't matter, it isn't a contest. I suppose my gigging era will end before I die, if I live long enough. Rap is now over 35 years old, and when rap becomes mainstream for the adult market, it'll be time to hang up my spurs. All eras end sooner or later. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Bare Trees — Fleetwood Mac

Man who run in front of car get tired. Man who run behind car get exhausted.

Mama Told Me Not to Come - Eric Burdon & The Animals (covered by 3 Dog Night). I like the 3 Dog Night version better

My first guitar was a Gibson ES330. I'm predominantly a sax player, but on songs where there was no sax part, I'd either play bass and let the bass player play guitar, or play rhythm guitar using the guitarist's 'other' guitar. He played a 335 on stage, which I never got to play, instead, I played rhythm on Tele. After I quit the band, I saw a 330 in a music store, thinking it was a 335, I bought it. I later learned the difference, and decided the 330 was a better match for me, anyway. Years later, when I got serious about guitar (my 7th instrument) I bought a Parker Dragonfly/maxxfly because I didn't want to take the Gibson out and play it outdoors near salt water. Notes ♫

Been there, done that, with a good space above the amp, and the back off the road rack. After that, I put it in its own separate short rack and stacked the one with the PA and synth components on top. Then one day I lost a channel on the power amp, thought about it for a while, considered what would happen if both channels went out, and I went out and bought powered speakers. I'm on my second generation of powered speakers, EV ZLX-15s. Rack now looks like this: Notes ♫

Yes, it doesn't have to be a word part of the title, but it should be an association. I suppose this one is more of a private association. But I made the rules, so I guess it's only right that I am the first one to break the rules. I Can’t Control Myself — The Troggs

Gigging, I plug everything on stage into a Power Conditioner, which suppresses spikes and boosts power sags. The ground is the third pin of the power cable. Since everything is plugged into the same conditioner/ground, there are no ground loops on stage, no 60Hz hum. It also protects the electronic components from power spikes and dips. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Ummm

Fact of Life: After Monday & Tuesday, Even the Calendar says W T F

Definitely. But you couldn't buy saxophone reeds in a convenience store, only music stores. Now I have to buy them on-line. Insights and incites by Notes ♫

Every girl/woman I have ever had the pleasure of being intimate with in my life was introduced to me through my saxophone. Including the best one of all, who ended up marrying. Funny, when I was a kid, I wanted to play Baritone Horn (Euphonium). But when trying to join the school band, all the available instruments were rented, so like the other new kids, I got a pair of drumsticks and a practice pad. In retrospect, starting on drums was an advantage that has served me well all my life. Then the tenor sax player's family moved, and the band director said, “Who wants to try the sax?” I was ready to play anything that could create a melody, so I guess my “I Do! I Do!” was more enthusiastic than the others. It's the luckiest thing that ever happened to me. Euphonium players don't get much work. I played in a rock band after school, and I've been a pro musician all my life. No need to be a wage-slave at some corporate day job. Plus, it was a great way to meet chicks. But this is a “Listening to this now” thread. To be back on-topic here is another “chic magnet” song for saxophonists. I think the Harlem Nocturne gal would have liked this one pressed up against her “you-know-what”. And Gato did a nice job with Carlos Santana's song. Europa — Gato Barbieri

Association: When Mrs. Notes and I were gigging on a cruise ship, it would port in Cozumel every week. We loved our audience, but it was nice to get away from the crowds once a week, so we would take the ferry or the waterjet to Playa Del Carmen. This was before they decided to develop it and make it “The Mexican Riviera”. It was a sleepy little beach town. It had one little 2 story hotel with great authentic Mexican food, a few tourist cottages a short walk away, and a nude beach a little further south. It also had some of the clearest water I've ever immersed myself in. Standing neck deep, I could still see every toe on my feet. We would take the ferry on the way across, to be with the Mexican folks. It was full of great people, and even livestock like goats. On the way back we took the waterjet, because it was quick and more dependable, and we didn't want to miss the ship. Every week, all summer long, on the way back they would play this video by The Flans. It was about the same era as Bananarama, so I nicknames the Flans, “Plantainarama”. Well here is the video, and it brings back great memories. So please indulge me while I reminisce. No Controles (No Control)— The Flans

On the road as we drove through Nashville, you could buy Black Diamond stings in a convenience store.

Another song I learned by ear as a child. This was difficult when I was 12 or 13, but it was worth it. This song got me 'dates' with more girls than any other song I ever played in my entire life. One girl wanted me to play it while my sax was pressed against her ***** for foreplay. Harlem Nocturne — The Viscounts

We Suck Young Blood — Radiohead

No, but I had a New Year's Eve gig at an Alcoholics Anonymous club, and the audience wasn't spirited.

User 905133, thanks for taking me back to the songs of my childhood. Red River Rock and Wild Weekend were some of the first songs I learned by ear on the saxophone.

I'm old enough to remember when strings were typically sold individually. A guitar player I knew bought Black Diamond brand strings, bought a banjo string for the first string, a first string for the second, second for the third, wound third for the fourth, fourth for the fifth, and fifth for the sixth. It was a home-made light gauge string set, before they started selling light gauge sets. He said he learned that trick while in Nashville. I used to buy individual reeds. I'd go to the music store, hold the reed up to the light to see if the grain was even, and reject the bad ones. You can't do that anymore, either. So I guess the individual string and reed era ended decades ago. Insights and incites by Notes ♫